3° 



HARD WICKE 'S S CIENCE- G O SSI P. 



check to its velocity, and lets its burden fall ; the 

 particles then arrange themselves at the proper 

 "slope of repose," which depends upon their size 

 and form. This can seldom or never happen to a 

 current of air on a large scale, and consequently 

 diagonal stratification will rarely occur in sand- 

 dunes. 



My reason for repeating these well-known facts is 

 that, in J. Geikie's small "Geology," I find the 

 following passage: — "Sometimes the layers of de- 

 position in a single stratum are inclined at various 

 angles to themselves. This structure is called false- 

 bedding ; the laminae not coinciding with the planes 

 of stratification Hillocks of drifting sand fre- 

 quently show a similar structure, but their false- 

 bedding is, as a rule, much more pronounced." The 

 first two sentences of this passage contain slightly 

 different ideas, and must confuse the student's mind. 

 According to my observation, moreover, the state- 

 ment in the last sentence is not true, if he takes the 

 latter of the two definitions apparently given of false- 

 bedding, as he would naturally do. It is best not to 

 use the term false-bedding at all, but discard it, as is 

 done by Lyell and Jukes, in favour of the two, irre- 

 gular bedding and diagonal stratification. The latter 

 of these cannot be called by the rejected name, as it 

 is not the bedding but the lamination that is ab- 

 normal ; we may, indeed, apply the name to the 

 former, but we shall have to explain that false means 

 irregular in this case, and we do not gain much, 

 except the opportunity of writing a second sentence 

 to explain the meaning of the previous one. 



THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE 

 FORAMINIFERA. 



By W. K. Marriott. 



THIS was the subject of a paper recently read 

 before the Metropolitan Scientific Association. 

 The author referred to the Eozoon Canadense, and 

 while giving a brief recapitulation of the arguments 

 in favour of its organic origin, he held it up as not 

 only the fust of all foraminiferous life, but also, in its 

 special capacity as a rock builder, as typical as the 

 very Globigerina itself. He considered as inimical 

 to the claims of the Eozoon that Messrs. King and 

 Rowney, the leaders of the opposition, had lately 

 received a grant from the Endowment of Research 

 Fund, for "Researches to determine the Structural, 

 Chemical, and Mineralogical Character of a certain 

 Group of Crystallic Rocks." If this were aimed at 

 the Eozoon, he was content to leave the matter in 

 their hands, feeling confident that its position in the 

 animal world was assured. After referring to the 

 utility of classification in general, he showed how 

 the classification of the Foraminifera had been 

 alternately neglected and over-indulged in ; how in 

 the one case it was left to itself, and in others had 



been filled with synonymes, and how M. D'Orbigny 

 had rescued it, and how he again had spoiled it. 

 He then showed the system of the classification of the 

 whole Protozoic group, and how its two great 

 branches, the Rhizopoda and Ciliata, develope on the 

 one hand, through many stages, up to the many- 

 chambered Foraminifera, and on the other to the 

 Actinophrys and Vorticella. He regretted he could 

 at present do no more than indicate the great question 

 that lay open at this point, namely, how these two 

 developments of Protozoic life are related to the 

 supplementary groups of Polycystina, Thallassacollida, 

 and Spongiada, and to the Ichthydina and Noctilu- 

 cida. As the classification of the Foraminifera rests, 

 by reason of the simplicity of its animal matter, upon 

 no physiological basis, it remains very clearly that it 

 can only be upon the structural difference of its 

 shell ; this, again, being due to the hardening, with 

 only very slight modifications, of the outside of the 

 creature— the calcifying of its epidermis, as it has 

 been somewhat curiously called ; this classification 

 rests on very reasonable and simple grounds. The 

 necessity of the first great divisions into Monothalamia 

 and Polythalamia immediately suggests itself. The 

 Monothalamia, or one-chambered Foraminifera, con- 

 sists of three families. The first, and largest, in point 

 of genera, is the Lagynida, so called from the flask- 

 like shape of its members. Specimens were shown 

 under the microscopes in the table, and were found to 

 exhibit every variety of form of flask that ever left the 

 hand of the potter. This distinctive feature was also 

 shown upon the black-board ; indeed, Mr. Marriott 

 materially assisted his audience in understanding the 

 principles of the classification by sketching thereon 

 typical genera of all the families, giving the salient 

 points in the structure of the shell by which the 

 creature earned its name and position. The second 

 family, Orbulinida, has but one member, but this is 

 the interesting Orbulina that the Challenger Expedi- 

 tion has brought prominently to the front ; its points 

 of resemblance to the Globigerina were dwelt upon, 

 and also its curious divergences from that genus. 

 The third family, Comusfii ida, was then shown, and 

 its great apparent resemblance to our fresh-water 

 mollusk, the planorbis, at once fixed it on the mind ; 

 this concluding the Monothalamia. The grouping 

 of the Polythalamia was next shown, but here a 

 greater number of families are found, and conse- 

 quently intricacies of various kinds to be encountered. 

 The first group, the Helicoidea, contained every spiral- 

 shaped Foraminifera there was, and some, like some 

 of the members of the first family, that were not spiral 

 at all, but simply possessing more chambers than 

 one. These were the Miliolida, from their resem- 

 blance to millet seed. The second family, Turbi- 

 nida, possessed, with many variations, a shell like 

 the well-known mollusk Turbo, and specimens of 

 this family are found in all collections. A sub- 

 family of this, called, from its clustering and grape- 



